March 19 Tuesday – Susy Clemens’ sixth birthday was noted in Sam’s notebook [MTNJ 2: 54].
Sam’s notebook: “Lester writes (from Washington) one of the regular Jones-Lester non-committal half-promising for the 26th” [MTNJ 2: 55]. (See Mar. 13 & 26 entries.)
Sam’s Mar. 20 notebook entry for Mar. 19:
March 17 and 18 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam.
March 16 Saturday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, answering his Mar. 15 letter and submission:
“The new thing you send me is perfectly delicious. It went right home every time. What a fancy you have got! And what sense!….It’s sickening to have you going away” [MTHL 1: 224].
Howells wasn’t certain he would attend the Bayard Taylor banquet on Apr. 4, though he did go. Note: Sam’s submission was “About Magnanimous-Incident Literature.”
March 15 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells. He sent a piece for the Atlantic and also simultane-sheets to go to the Canadian Monthly and to Chatto & Windus. He doubted he would go to the Taylor banquet (though he did go) as he would be in Elmira.
New York City -- The Rossmore Hotel, on Broadway, between Forty-first and Forty-second Streets opened February 8th, 1876
March 13 Wednesday – An entry in Sam’s notebook placed this as the possible date he met with George Lester at the Rossmore Hotel in New York about recovering $23,000 he’d invested in the failed Hartford Accident Insurance Co.. Lester and Sam had been directors, and Senator John P. Jones president of the company. John D. Slee of the Langdon Coal Co. arranged a meeting with Jones, acting as Sam’s agent (see Mar. 26 entry).
March 12 Tuesday – Committee for Bayard Taylor farewell dinner sent an engraved invitation for Apr. 4 [MTP]. Note: Included: Elliot C. Cowdin (1819-1880), Charles Watrous, Algernon S. Sullivan, George Haven Putnam (1844-1930), and Edmund C. Stedman (1833-1908). A program & menu, too large for the env.was likely returned by Clemens.
An unidentified Hartford resident sent Clemens a poem bemoaning the Clemens family’s departure to Europe for a long sojourn [MTP].
March 11 Monday – Before this date Sam earned a half-interest after expenses for the Colonel Sellers play. A contract of this date reduced his share to twenty percent [MTPO Notes with Oct. 27, 1876 to Raymond].
March 9 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks, who had written again asking why Sam would go to Germany.
March 8 Friday – Sam secretly signed a contract for the new travel book with Frank Bliss, son of Elisha. Sam had been somewhat dissatisfied with Elisha Bliss and the American Publishing Co. since Orion reported misgivings. Frank wanted to break away from his father and start his own company. The new contract was Sam’s way of increasing his control over publication [MTJ&N 2: 42]. (See Nov. 1879 entry.)